Lagatar24 Desk
Patna, Jan 27: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he was waiting for a meeting of like-minded parties for the Lok Sabha polls next year once Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is complete.
Nitish Kumar told in his statement “I am waiting for the yatra to be over and for a meeting of parties (opposed to the BJP) to be convened. There, we shall chalk out the strategy for the Lok Sabha polls which is, now, not far away.”
“Kushwaha should remember that this party has given him a lot. He owes his past stints in assembly and Rajya Sabha, and current member of the legislative council, to the JD(U),” he added.
The CM also said the JD(U) would not like to eliminate its sulking parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha, whose claim of the party becoming weak he rejected.
The JD(U) leader, who has the Congress as a junior ally in Bihar, maintained that he viewed the ‘yatra’ as a ‘Niji’ (internal) program of that party, but looked forward to a collaboration in Lok Sabha of all seven constituents of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance).
Asked about Kushwaha, the JD(U) leader said, “He knew that we had won only 43 seats in assembly polls. If things appeared so desolate to him, he should not have returned. He should remember his return to the party enriched at my instance since many were not in favour of taking him back. Our membership drive has swollen the party ranks from less than 50 lakhs to 75 lakhs. Our tally fell in 2020 assembly polls since our then ally (BJP) did not support us at all.”
Later on, the JD(U) had blamed its drubbing on a conspiracy hatched by the BJP, with the help of the then LJP chief Chirag Paswan, who fielded candidates in all seats the Chief Minister’s party was contesting and gave tickets to many BJP rebels.
